Aristocrat - Revisit

We had not been back to the Aristocrat since it has been remodeled after a fire, and after our last visit, which really annoyed hubby.  But we figured we should give it another try, check out the new digs, and I really needed to try the tenderloin because I had never had it.

The first thing I noticed was how incredibly friendly the people were the whole time we were there (which may have been more noticeable after our last bad service experience there).  The hostess was really friendly as was our server.  We ordered our drinks and got them right away.

I decided to get all designated “Pub Favorites” for the entire meal. Guaranteeing me the best meal possible right? We started with the beer cheese dip with apples and pretzel bread ($8). We had our son with us and I thought he might dig it too. It was fine. The cheese had a little more flavor than your typical nacho cheese type dip (the beer, I guess), but not a ton more.  I liked the apples with it—I thought it gave it an interesting little kick with the slight tartness of the apples. The pretzel bread wasn’t very good.  I never would have guessed it was pretzel bread until I looked back at the menu.  It was very soft and it had a kind of funky taste to it and wasn’t salted, which I sort of expected. Hubby and I mainly stuck with the apples.

Like I said, I really wanted to try the pork tenderloin sandwich ($9) but hubby wanted to order it, so we agreed to split it and I would get something else. It is very good—the meat is very tender, and not pounded too thin.  The coating is the classic seasoned breading.  My only complaint is that I think it could have stood to be cooked just a little crisper. Hubby said in the past when he has gotten it, it was always a little darker in color.  But the toasted bun and the accompaniments were right (mayo, red onion and pickles for me).  He got the kettle chips on the side which were heavily seasoned with black pepper. So depending on how you feel about a lot of black pepper, you may or may not like these.

I got the Cobb salad ($11). Honestly, I was kind of disappointed in it overall.  The lettuce was one of those mixes with hard matchsticks of carrot in it and a lot of iceberg hearts. And there wasn’t much lettuce considering it was a salad.  There was a ton of alfalfa sprouts, a few very thin slivers of avocado, a boiled egg, crumbles of blue cheese, diced tomatoes, very small bacon crumbles that kind of tasted a little fake to me and a grilled chicken breast.  The chicken was nice and tender though, although not overly seasoned.  As we left, I saw some friends who had ordered other “Pub Favorite” salads and they looked much better—with field greens and spinach. If I were to be with someone who wants a salad, those would be what I would recommend.

I do like the interior remodel.  They have done a nice job of opening the space up and making it feel like a cohesive restaurant, but maintaining the pubby feel (although like almost every restaurant in Indy in the summer, it was freezing in there). And our service was really, really great.  I guess I am a little disappointed that they didn’t really seem to make any changes/improvements to the menu and from what we had, I probably won’t rush back.

Aristocrat Pub

5212 N. College Ave

Indy, 46220

317/283-7388

www.aristocratpub.com